By Matt Chaban 10/31/12 9:47am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Beep beep. (Sam Sifton/Instagram)

If Only We Had Bike Share Right Now, and the Uselessness of Google Maps When the Subway’s Shut Down

For all the complaints about the city’s planned bike share system, is there any better way to get around right now? Social media is already flooded with reports of horrendous traffic—see the Instapic at left from The Times’s Sam Sifton, Journal transit reporter Ted Mann reports on Twitter that “City without subways: Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is a titanic clog of traffic in the morning rush.”

“The deli will be open for breakfast shortly,” announces Mile End. “No MTA & heavy traffic delays slowing us down.” The Times has a pretty handy graphic of just how horrible it is.

The only thing thicker than the traffic is the tweeting and Facebooking about it. And the reports of multi-bus, multi-hour commutes, sans subway, are piling up.

This reporter will be riding his bike, and he can’t help but wonder if a lot more people would be, too, if they had the chance. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/31/12 10:21am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

NY+Alerts+Transit+Desktop

Finally! Google Maps Now Shows Subway Service Alerts, Closed Stations, Rerouted Trains

In its progressive/penny-pinching efforts to be a tech-forward transit agency, the MTA has outsourced much of its app development to outside firms and open-source programmers. Among the innovations out there, this meant the MTA’s official trip planner was integrated with Google Maps, as has been the case since 2008. The future is now!

This is good, because the MTA is often broken down and under repair in reality, so digitally would mean even more problems. But that is also where the interfaces did not connect: There was no integration between the Google Map routes and the MTA Service Alerts that warned straphangers about construction- and emergency-related service changes. That changes today. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/22/11 11:29am

The Neverending Story

Picture 3

How Do We Know the 9/11 Memorial Is Really Real? Because It's on Google Maps, Of Course

For too long, it seemed like the 9/11 Memorial might never get built, certainly not in time for 10th anniversary of the attacks. (There is a reason The Observer categorizes all our ground zero stories as “The Neverending Story.”  The 9/11 Memorial opened to the public last week, but with access tightly regulated—it’s still a very active construction site—it can be a little hard to believe it. But in case there was any doubt, we now have that most official of proof something exists: the memorial has been added to Google Maps. Read More

By admin 12/07/10 8:41pm

Location Based

Google Maps Now Works Offline (On The Subway)

Google Maps users will now be able to pull up directions, even when they’re underground or getting spotty cell service.

Android chief Andy Rubin gave a sneek peek of the new Google Maps App at the D Mobile Conference yesterday.

The new maps app uses 100 times less data, meaning an entire map of New Read More

By Gillian Reagan 7/15/09 8:01pm

See Where Celebs Shop, Eat, Etc. Thanks To Google

Want to see a map that tells you exactly where Diane von Furstenberg likes to shop (Moss, for home pieces) and pick up flowers (Miho Kosuda Ltd)? Or where Danny Meyer goes for some Japanese (Yakitori Torys)? Or where Moby goes antique shopping (Billy’s Antiques) and claims to grab a beer (Mars Bar … really?)? Read More

By Staff 7/10/06 4:16pm

Google Goes Green In NYC (and Stays Green)


Mary Jane in NY? No, it’s Google.

It’s been a month since the launch of Google’s “Summer of Green,” a project with Earth Day Network that provides environmentally focused map guides–plus videos that begin with a drummer wearing green clothing. Manhattanites finally have their chance to learn about new-wave rental cars and Read More